The Vatican's paediatric hospital stepped in after Pope Francis called for Charlie's parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, to be allowed to "accompany and treat their child until the end".

Ms Enoc said: "I was contacted by the mother, who is a very determined and decisive person and doesn't want to be stopped by anything."

GOSH responded that Charlie cannot be moved for legal reasons, she said.

Successive legal attempts to allow his parents to take him to the US for experimental treatment failed as judges in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in London ruled in favour of GOSH doctors, while the European Court of Human Rights declined to hear the couple's appeal.

His parents, both in their 30s and from Bedfont, west London, are now spending the last days of their 11-month-old son's life with him, after being given more time before his life-support is turned off. Charlie suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage.